If you can't pass the NCLEX after three attempts....LVN license only!

Nurses General Nursing

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I just read in another thread that some Boards of nursing are allowing multiple attempts at taking the NCLEX exam. Is this true? If so, this is ridiculous! If we are trying to elevate the profession by requiring a minimum BSN to practice, then why are we allowing multiple attempts at taking the NCLEX? No reputable profession would allow this. If you can't pass it after three attempts then you shouldn't be allowed to practice as an RN. Boards of nursing should grant them an LVN license only!

Specializes in Home Health (PDN), Camp Nursing.

Thanks for making my chosen profession a consolation prize fore those you deam insufficient to be an RN. That's awsome. +1 offended nurse here.

Lets use your logic and just make all doctors who fail boards RNs.

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Specializes in hospice.
My thing is that if this profession is all about being elevated (BSN minimum to practice), then why are people allowed to take this exam until they pass it? Are doctors allowed to take their boards 7 or 8 times? Are lawyers allowed to take the bar 7 or 8 times? Maybe I'm missing something here.

And apparently, LPNs are so low that you feel completely comfortable publicly crapping all over them. :mad:

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I can't help but notice the irony in OP's suggestion: you are not knowledgable or competent enough to pass the NCLEX RN so you should be given an LVN license. However the OP is not knowledgeable or competent enough to know they are identical tests except for "management of care" meaning if you failed the NCLEX RN you would fail at least 80 % of the NCLEX PN.

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And yes doctors can and have taken the different steps of their licensure exams (all 3) multiple times and just like our license exam how often they can is dictated by the state they seek licensure in.

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I have my opinion and you have yours. I see nothing wrong with allowing someone who can't pass NCLEX-RN to take the NCLEX-PN and give them the license if they pass. I know several people who have done this. Again, my opinion. Moving on...

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Well, some take an NCLEX and pass in 78 questions, others 278. Some nurses who did amazing on the NCLEX are not great nurses in practice. And it can be the other way around, too. Some people don't test well. Other's test really well and have zero critical thinking skills.

If they really wanted to use the NCLEX to the advantage of the profession, it should be 2 separate tests for ADN's and BSN's, one for LPN's and every NCLEX 75 questions, period.

There are nurses who are appalled that their co-worker needed over 200 questions to pass....seriously.

The NCLEX-PN was quite a test. I am not sure that if one couldn't pass the RN exam, that they would be able to pass the PN exam. And who the heck would want a nurse who got an LPN license because they couldn't "make it" as an RN????

Regardless, "elevating the profession" is a new flavor a koolaid. If all of us, regardless of education, would just be totally THRILLED that we got a JOB and did it for 10.00 and hour, the facilities wouldn't care if it took 153 times to pass the darn test.

Excellent points I'm curious why you felt ADNs and BSNs should take separate NCLEX exams. I'd think they should be capable of passing the same basic nursing NCLEX.

Loved the Koolaid comment, btw. The "elevating the profession" comments sounds silly and is also offensive to me when directed toward LPNs and ADNs.

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I have my opinion and you have yours. I see nothing wrong with allowing someone who can't pass NCLEX-RN to take the NCLEX-PN and give them the license if they pass. I know several people who have done this. Again, my opinion. Moving on...

Have you ever taken the PN NCLEX? If not you are speaking from pure ignorance. You fail to realize that the PN NCLEX is just as challenging as the RN NCLEX. Most RNs I know would fail the PN NCLEX because the content is different. Not easier, just different.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I have my opinion and you have yours. I see nothing wrong with allowing someone who can't pass NCLEX-RN to take the NCLEX-PN and give them the license if they pass. I know several people who have done this. Again, my opinion. Moving on...

I guess we got off at different train stations because I don't understand your train of thought.

The NCLEX is what determines if a person becomes a nurse. But if someone can't pass the NCLEX-RN why give them the consolation prize of becoming an LVN? Obviously they didn't master what they needed to or else they would've passed & became an RN. They didn't pass go, didn't collect $200. I wouldn't want someone who can't pass the RN NCLEX to just be handed an LVN license.

"Well, you tried..here you go."

Becoming an LVN isn't an award you get for showing up! It doesn't work that way & it shouldn't. There should be a cut off for amount of times you can take the NCLEX, but if a person is taking the NCLEX-RN & then maxes out they shouldn't automatically become a nurse! Obviously they failed the NCLEX, they failed the test to become a nurse.

Failed NCLEX = no nursing license, of ANY kind!

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You are missing something. Firstly, the premise for your conclusion is that NCLEX is capable of determining who is capable of being a good nurse. Which is false. I passed NCLEX with the minimum amount of questions and barely felt challenged in the slightest bit. I am a terrible nurse. ...

Did you really just write this? LOL, gotta be the most honest post I've ever seen! But does your boss know this too?!

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I'm thinking this should be a drinking game, in which every time someone posts "consolation prize" the rest of us get to indulge ;)

Seriously, though, OP.....not only a wacky idea but one that if put into practice as you'd like would only serve to make a subpar, substandard, downright dangerous pool of new LPN/LVNs. NOT a good plan.

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Did you really just write this? LOL, gotta be the most honest post I've ever seen! But does your boss know this too?!

But this person has a point. I know alot of book smart nurses, that passed NCLEX at top speed with 75 questions that are TERRIBLE nurses. There are also nurses that have taken it multiple times that turn out to be very competent.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, Alzheimer/dementia.

OP,

What happens when that person can't pass the NCLEX-PN either? If a person is a poor test taker, then does the content of the exam really matter? I took both exams, they are both challenging in their own right. I got my start as an LPN. Yes it's true there are some LPN's who run circles around RN's, I was one of them. It's extremely rude to come on a message board and insult an entire group of hard working nurses by implying they are second best to an RN.

And then when no one sees your point you say to move on...

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